Saturday, August 20, 2011

Xander's Arrival Story

Things have been a little busy around here, and I anticipate that this story will take at least two or three posts, but please let me make a little jump to the end and introduce you to the newest sweetie in my life, Xander!!!

I suppose the facts give away a little of the story I'll be telling, but Xander (short for Alexander, pronounced "Zander") was born on August 13th, weighing 8 pounds 10 ounces. He's an absolute bundle of sweet.

He, his daddy (Chad), and I have been doing pretty well... Especially since Chad is taking two weeks off to enjoy his new son and avoid me having 90% of the sudden new-baby responsibilities, and also because my wonderful mother has been visiting and helping on a regular basis. I'm definitely having post-partum depression issues (this was expected, considering that it's so common and I'm more prone to depression than most), but honestly, things are actually good despite that. I have a wonderful support system.

Now, on to...

Xander's Arrival Story

It's been a while since I posted because, first, I was just too exhausted from late-pregnancy to have much energy even for blogging. I started working half days to help my extremely swollen feet/ankles/legs and to get more sleep. It was only swelling though, as both my blood pressure and urine tests showed no other symptoms of pre-eclampsia. I started seeing my blood sugar plummet too, but every test showed that the baby was just fine.

On Friday August 12th I went for what I knew would likely be my last prenatal visit with my OB. I was 39 weeks and 1 day, putting me in the zone where she'd want to induce if conditions were right... only they weren't. My cervix showed zero signs of preparing for delivery and Xander had not dropped. She said that, since things were looking so healthy and I was being was so closely monitored, she was willing to give me a few more days (but not past my due date) to see if things would progress on their own... though she sincerely doubted they would and, in fact, anticipated a C-section even if labor started naturally (and even more so if we induced without any further natural progression). I told her that yes, I wanted to give my body the chance to do things on its own. But she wanted a plan of action. The options: Schedule a c-section or schedule an induction (which was likely to end in a c-section). It was actually a harder decision than I expected since I didn't want a C-section, but I was being told that I would likely just go through labor and end up with a C-section anyway. Still, I decided to schedule an induction on Xander's due date, August 18th.